I'm collecting signatures and support of my fellow Arlingtonians? to get on the ballot; I'm running to make sure the Virginia government doesn't pass anything to impede your use of the internet, mess with the lives of anyone regardless of race, gender, or sexuality, and try to work on issues in the recent transportation bill that was passed (like the NOVA-specific .7% sales-tax increase)

In short, I'm a libertarian, or a Liberty Republican; the Libertarian Party will support me, and we're seeing if the Republicans would run a candidate.

What seems to be missing in Virginia politics is, despite the fact that everyone knows (at least us Northern Virginians) that Richmond sees Northern Virginia as a piggy bank (and why not?), there doesn't seem to be a unified front among the Northern Virginia delegates.
If you can convince your prospective voters that you can work well with neighboring districts' politicians, and why it is so important to our interests that there is an established Northern Virginia bloc, you may be on to something.
You must be well aware you are in a liberal-skewing district. I wouldn't be so keen on trumpeting the differences you have with the Dems.
Instead, I would focus on communicating how tax and transportation issues are so vital to the success and growth of Arlington, Falls Church (and neighboring munies).
I have no idea about your incumbent or potential rivals. But we got absolutely hosed with this new transpo bill.
And any proposed Route 66 work, whether it takes place in Arl or FC or not, is a third rail topic for Arlingtonians historically.
Best of luck.

We really did get hosed, and I agree with your strategy. As mentioned before, I know that I'm running in a blue district, which is why I think social issues are going to be more important than standard Libertarian economic positions. Civil liberties and coalition building are going to be very important here. Thank you for your support!

HAH I know I'll need the luck; but we do have differing views. Democracy and competition are awesome, right?! I like the Pike Trolley in theory, provided the county can pay for it. Technically I think the trolley costs $250M, and additional bus service would run roughly $50M, but that's a county-level project, so I don't believe the general assembly has much say. And if asked for state-funding specifically for the project, I would probably be opposed on the basis that it's a long-term cost that benefits too small a percentage of Virginians. Also, you should 'like' my Facebook page (http://facebook.com/farrar4freedom). You should still come out and support me, because we both like Democracy, right? ;)

I'm not in your district and can't see ever voting for a non-Dem, but I wonder why libertarians always seem to ally with Republicans. While Democrats are in general for higher taxes, more gun-control, and more regulations on corporations, it seems like they are more libertarian on basically every single other issue than Republicans are -- and I don't see why libertarians wouldn't be as wary of unchecked corporations as they are of unchecked government.

Especially in an area like NOVA, there are a lot of Dems like me who lean libertarian on a host of issues. Any thoughts on this matter?

Also, I'm an avid poker player and I'm curious if you know of any poker-related stuff coming up in our state? Both WV and MD have it now!

Honestly, it's because "Liberty Democrats" don't really exist. The second I tell most Dems I'm pro-liberty, I get looked at like some sort of virus to be crushed, while Republicans have been more willing to work with me to build a coalition. I would gladly work with Dems as well, because we should all be working to be more free. But poker?! I don't believe I know of any upcoming legislation dealing with poker. I'm not much of a player myself, though we do have a group that plays monthly in Herndon I like to hang out with, if you'd be interested in coming out. As it relates, they're mostly Liberty Republicans. BUT if you play StarCraft, I'd add you on Battle.net in a second :) zipp #443

As a sometime Democrat, my knee-jerk reaction to the term "pro-Liberty" is the same as the term "pro-Life". Both strike me as euphemisms coined to describe positions that they really don't. For example, "Pro-Life" seems like an effort to convince me that a cluster of unfeeling cells is a life with rights greater than that of a pregnant woman. "Pro-Liberty" seems like an effort to convince me that moderate taxation is a larger violation of liberty than a government that would effectively function as a mercenary force for the wealthy. If this does not describe your views, it might behoove you politically to be specific, or find a term that makes people feel warmer and fuzzier. As a Republican running in a Democratic area, your initial obstacle will be to convince people that you are at least semi-competent and not insane. (I think you come across pretty well in this post.)

You really think Democrats are more supportive of personal liberties in general than Republicans are? There are a few high-profile situations where Republicans fail that test (abortions and gay marriage come to mind), but by-and-large it's Democrats that want to institute the nanny state.

I understand that we do need to do something about our transportation, but the problem is that none of the money being taxed here is actually going to end up going to infrastructure changes; if you've looked at the state budget, you'll have seen that our biggest expenditures are on education and family services, and while those are important, I don't think we're getting the bang for our buck we should expect given how much we're allocating to just those two areas (check out our test scores here: http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/8513/testscores.png (image from http://www.fcta.org)). Before raising taxes, the assembly could have considered actually putting funds that were previously designated for infrastructure towards those projects, or even making cuts to the bloated education budget. And before anyone argues they need the money, our budget has gone from around ~$19.4B in 2000 to $40B today, so I really don't think there's a "revenue" problem here, but a fund-misallocation problem. And I still don't think it's fair that we should have to bear an in-proportionate tax burden; we're not the state's piggy bank.

Well the main thing is that we have quite a young and foreign demographic, which is why the Democratic candidates tend to do so well. And one of the problems I've found with Libertarians is that they tend to get so focused on injustices that the average person just doesn't care about (End the Fed, Raw Milk). So to that end, I'm working largely on a pro-civil liberties platform; I'm working on how to roll out a "Libertarians are pro-LOVE and pro-PEOPLE" campaign to get young people and immigrants involved, and pointing out how "unfair" the general assembly has been to NOVA with the recent tax hikes that single us out specifically.
If you want some more information on a hot local issue, check out the transportation taxes recently passed:
http://redstatevirginia.com/2013/02/gop-responsible-for-largest-tax-increase-in-virginia-history/
Notice how NOVA is singled out for higher taxes compared to the rest of the state? I don't think that's fair, and I don't think that my friends and neighbors would agree that it's fair either.

I'm having a hard time understanding your transportation taxes position. You don't think that, because NoVa has a much higher traffic density and would directly benefit more proportionately than the rest of the state, that NoVa constituents shouldn't pay more? How exactly is that unfair? Not trolling - I genuinely want to understand your thinking on this.

I've always battled this issue as well. I (a NOVA-er) want better roads, but don't think that we should pay higher taxes. In the end, a state is a state though. We pay taxes that support farm subsidies/programs (there's less farms in NOVA than I have fingers (not counting Loudon)), welfare, and other programs that support other parts of the state. While I don't think everyone should be treated the same as a person, I think every taxpayer should get the same quality of infrastructure in a state. I don't know if you're a Lover, but there's parts of southern/western VA that have AMAZING roads with giant, beautiful concrete murals. Then, there's NOVA roads, which are generally terrible. This is partly because more traffic on the roads, but why should we be penalized for that? NOVA and VA Beach areas create a majority of the state revenue, with Philip Morris coming in third. There's theories that if NOVA broke off, we'd be perfectly fine and the majority of the rest of the state would go bankrupt.

This is all can't be taken quite literally, but it's just my perspective on the transportation issue. It doesn't really fly when you take public transportation into account, so it's flawed, but the roads issue is huge around here.

It's because ultimately the revenue raised from the increased taxes, and the extra tax on us, probably won't actually end up making it to the infrastructure budget. The budget spends heavily on education and family services, which are important, but I think those costs are far too out of proportion for the value we get from them. That money could be used for infrastructure instead. That's why it was being raised to begin with, until someone decided it should be reallocated. And poof! We now don't have enough money in the budget for good roads because its getting spent on other things. And my argument is that there's more than enough money given that our budget has grown ~200% since, a far greater rate than that of inflation or population growth requirements would need.

I used to be a registered Libertarian when I lived in Pennsylvania, and I really liked it when candidates would emphasize tax transparency. It is a moderate issue, and it appeals to everyone. Nobody likes the idea that they are taxed for something, then the money is just thrown into a pot and those with the most influence spend it on whatever they see fit. I think there are many issues of accountability and frugality when using government resources that Libertarian candidates can actually win a majority of people over on, if they just stop emphasizing things that people don't care as much about or are more divided over.

I agree; when I look at national politics, there are big things in the news like the sequester and the fiscal cliff and gun control, but I'll still hear people ranting about the injustice of the federal government towards the raw milk crowd. Priorities and relevance! Durfsmurf, do you live in the 48th District (Arlington / Falls Church)? (http://facebook.com/farrar4freedom :))

I'm a libertarian Republican in the Virginia's 49th district, just outside yours. If there's anything you need from me, feel free to ask. I work and go to school full-time, but I may have some flexibility on weekends to help the effort. Are you involved in the Arlington-Falls Church Young Republicans?

Yes! Please like my Facebook page (http://facebook.com/farrar4freedom), and I'm planning an event where you can sign and hangout, or if you want to meet me in person and just chat and I can get your signature, shoot me a message on FB (facebook.com/sent1nel) or an email (joshua.farrar@gmail.com) and we can meetup and grab a beer / dinner / coffee :)

A non-democrat running for office in Arlington, how terribly cute! Then again, I guess you've got to start somewhere. I applaud you running, but you're going to have to convince people that you're not a Republican.

Eeek, what a messed up congressional district. How is it that me, someone who lives in Crystal City, is lumped in with people out past McLean, but not anyone from Pentagon City or even Alexandria?

Hey, I know it's a tough gig, but a democracy is a marketplace of ideas, and Democrats and I have a lot of common ground on civil liberties.

Yes, it's kind of ridiculous. I'm on the district by a single block, in Crystal City as well (who the hell carved out these districts?). I'd like to meet you and convince you to give me your signature and talk to you about why I'm a proponent of Liberty :) (My day job? Senior Software Engineer at an international charity. I <3 helping people.)

I pretty much believe that Ayn Rand invented libertarianism to give smug cunts something to irritate me with at bars and parties in the DMV, however, you seem like an alright guy, and I'm personally quite sick of baby-boomer politics destroying what's left of the country. How could I help? Are you running independent? who's the incumbent?

I'm waiting to hear back from the Republican Party, but it's likely I'll be trying to run as a Republican. There's an LP candidate already and the LP has OK'd me to compete with her if I don't get the Republican go ahead. But you can start by liking my Facebook page and coming out at the first event we're planning to gather more signatures! We need 125 to get on the ballot, and are shooting for 250 to be safe, given the semi-compactness of the district. The incumbent is Robert Brink; he's been the delegate for the 48th for 15 years, and is quite partisan. I am not, and I think that's part of my edge: I want liberty for ALL. (And hey, I can't hate on Ayn Rand. I don't agree with her on a lot of things, but I can definitely say her work has helped me intellectually.)